Rovio, the Finnish game studio behind the hit Angry Birds series of mobile and Web games and a range of other digital content, has just announced its financial results for the full calendar year of 2012.

In 2012, Rovio booked sales of €152.2 million or $195 million, up from €75.6 million ($96.9 million) in revenue the year before, a 101% jump. Its main revenue sources remain paid games, virtual goods and advertising, although merchandising is closing in and might even make up the bulk of Rovio’s revenue in the future.

The company’s net profit for the year was €55.5 million or $71 million, up from €35.4 million ($45.4 million) in 2011. That’s a 57% increase.

Games like Angry Birds Space, Amazing Alex, Bad Piggies and Angry Birds Star Wars catapulted the total number of Rovio game downloads to more than 1 billion in May 2012. Today, Rovio claims that number has surpassed the 1.7 billion mark.

The company ended last year on a high note as well, hitting a total of active monthly users across all platforms of 263 million in December, 2012.

Rovio says its ‘Consumer Products’ (merchandising) business unit’s revenue for 2012 was more than three times the revenue of 2011, and accounted for 45 percent of the company’s overall revenue.

Rovio’s number of employees grew from 224 to 518 in 2012.

If you’re interested in learning more about the company, its origins and strategy, you’re invited to read my profile on Rovio.

Robin Wauters is the European Editor of The Next Web.
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